My sister collects butterflies - you name it and she probably has it. She has butterfly wallpaper, little ceramic sculptures of butterflies, books, and little dead ones pinned up for display. About a month ago I was in search of a new butterfly to give to my sister for her birthday. I found myself in this little shop in, of all places, Main Street at Disneyland. This little Asian man was behind the counter holding these clear rods of glass with this beautiful blue flame shooting out strongly from in front of him. He was melting and manipulating the glass that he had in his hand to look like a dolphin; it was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen.
             This story is why I picked Hans-Godo Frabel to do my paper on. Hans-Godo Frabel is a very well-known torch artist; in his time he was known as one of the founders of modern torch-work art in America. However, he didn't always live here. Born in Germany during the Second World War, Frabel was brought up in one of the harshest environments in the world at the time. Frabel was joined by a glass artist started his apprenticeship and was a part of Germany's Master Craftsman program. The master craft program is the legal basis for admission into a craft. Only a natural or legal person listed in the Register of Craftsmen is allowed to independently operate a craft enterprise; registration requires qualification as a master craftsman (Meister) in the respective craft. This is also an entitlement to train apprentices. In limited exceptional cases, master craftsmen can work in other crafts for which they are not registered. Along with his title of master craftsman he also got the nickname "Machine Hands", because of the precise movements of his hands and how quickly he works.
             After reading up on Hans-godo for a while and looking at his work I really started to like and appreciate what he was doing. One particular piece of Frabels that struck me as particularly nice was ...